Ethiopia church building collapse kills 22 worshippers, injures 55

Ethiopia church building collapse kills 22 worshippers, injures 55

A makeshift scaffolding set up at a church in Ethiopia collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 22 people and injuring 55, state media said.

The event occurred around 7:45 a.m. in the village of Arerti, about 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of the capital, Addis Abeba, while a group was there for the annual Virgin Mary festival.

“Many pilgrims were killed or sustained physical injuries,” local administrator Atnafu Abate told the Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), putting the death toll at 22 and the wounded at 55.

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Some remained under the rubble, he stated, without providing any additional information on those trapped or potential rescue efforts.

Some of the most badly injured were transported to hospitals in the capital, he explained.

Images posted to the ECB’s official Facebook site showed a shambles of toppled wooden poles, with spectators gathered among the dense debris.

Other images depicted the church’s exterior, where scaffolding had been awkwardly constructed.

Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, has almost no health and safety laws, and building accidents are prevalent.

The enormous country is a patchwork of 80 ethnic groups and one of the world’s oldest Christian nations.

In the fourth century, its predecessor, the Axumite Empire, established Christianity as the imperial religion.

Ethiopia church building collapse kills 22 worshippers, injures 55